Wood pavement



(No Modell) B. W.- BELL.

Woon PAVEMENT.

Patented July 17, 1883.

WITNESSES w Ke. W

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICEO BUSHROD W. BELL, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

WOOD PAVEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,233, dated J' uly17, 1883.

Application filed June 12, 1883. (No model.)

To all' whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BUsHRoD W. BELL, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wood Pavements, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to furnish an improved pavement whichshall be strong, durable, and cheap, not being liable to decay norbecome uneven, with perfectly water-tight concrete joints laid on aperfectly solid and compact foundation of gravel, which can be easilycut through and readily reunited should it become necessary to cutthrough it to lay sewer or gas pipes or water-mains, or make connectionswith same.

rlhe invention consists of an improved pavement formed of one or morecourses of gravel of any degree of thickness, each layer to be well andeompactly rolled with a heavy cylindrical roller, forming a perfectlysolid roadbed and irregular bois clarc blocks, cut as nearly at rightangles to their length as may be, generally in lengths of about eightinches, their diameters varying from about four to ten inches, placed onend upon this road-bed of compacted gravel, and all pounded with a heavypounder dat on the bottom, so as to bring all the blocks to an even anduniform surface, the spaces between the blocks to be filled withscreened gravel or sand, and well rammed in until perfectly solid, afterwhich a hot composition of coal-tar and pitch (such as is used forroofing purposes) is poured into the interstices between the blocks,forming perfectly water-tight concrete joints.

Figure l represents a top view of a portion of my pavement. Fig. 2 is avertical section of the same. 4

The road-bed is to be properly graded to a sub-grade of about twelveinches below the established grade of the street, and to conform to thecross-section of the street. Before placing the ballast thereon theroad-bed shall be well rolled with a cylindrical roller not less thanfive feet long, and to weigh not less than. iive thousand pounds. A bedof bank sand or gravel, or either of them, six inches deep or more,shall be placed upon the road-bed as prepared above, and shall be evenlyspread and rounded to the shape of the street, and shall be well rolledwith a cylindrical roller not less than five feet long, and to weigh notless than five thousand pounds, so as to form a perfectly solid bed theentire width of the roadway, blocks to be stripped of bark, ofcylindrical shape, and sawed at right angles to the axis of the blocksout of good sound live bois dmc timber, free from knots and otherdefects; shall be about six inches long, and from three to eight inchesin diameter. Blocks must be placed on end, in a close compact manner,care being taken to so arrange the larger and smaller blocks togetherthat the interstices between shall be left as small as possible, and nosquare holes formed, and make all spaces as near as possible of uniformsize; all blocks adjoining the curb to be split and the iiat side placedagainst the curb, so as to make tight and even joints, each block torest squarely upon its base without binding. Before spaces between theblocks are filled with gravel the blocks shall be pounded with a pounderweighing not less than eighty pounds, twelve inches in diameter, andila-t on the bottom, and the blocks are brought to an even and uniformsurface. No teaming shall be allowed over the pavement until the spacesare filled with gravel; the spaces between the blocks to be filled withscreened gravel or sand, and rammed in until solid with iron or steelbars', then covered and refilled, and swept off with a coarse broom. Ahot composition of coal-tar and pitch, (such as is used for roof- .ingpurposes,) and not less than one and onefourth gallon per square yard,shall be poured into and over the spaces. Then the whole surface shallbe covered with gravel and sand to a depth of three-fourths of an inch.Gross'- walks shall be made at all intersecting streets ten feet wide,level with the center-line of the street, and the ends to be on a levelwith the curb, and to be crowned two inches higher than the paving.

I am aware that two layers of boards have been used for a foundation, asalso a foundation of broken stone and gravel or either of them,

IOO

and that irregular, blocks are old for paving In testimony whereof Iaffix inv signature in Io purposes; but presence of two Witnesses.

What I claim, and desire to secured by Letv ters Patent, is BUSHROD XV.BELL.

5 A Wooden pavement consisting of irregular bois dcwc blocks resting ona foundation of Vitnesses: gravel, and having their interstioes lledwith A. I. VVOZENORAFT, a Water-tight concrete of gravel7 coal-tar7 andLAFAYETTE FITZHUGII. pitch7 as herein shown and described. l

